


no matter what the future holds (i got you)

by jessicamiriamdrew



Category: Constantine (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M, set somewhere in the legends of tomorrow s3 or post s3 timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-28 01:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15038060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessicamiriamdrew/pseuds/jessicamiriamdrew
Summary: “Time travel,” Chas says. “You became a time traveler in the six months we’ve been apart?”even the waverider can't keep john from coming back to chas.





	no matter what the future holds (i got you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [phalangine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/phalangine/gifts).



> this assumes some vague familiarity with the legends characters and s3 of legends, but if you don't have it, the references shouldn't be too obscure. just, you know, time travel! john hanging out with the legends! john pining endlessly after chas, aka canon compliant with the tv show
> 
> the tile is from the song future by transviolet, because i love that band and time travel jokes

“Time travel,” Chas says. “You became a time traveler in the six months we’ve been apart?”

The six months that wasn’t John’s choice, he wants to point out, but holds back on actually saying. Family is a tricky thing, and Chas deserves time with his daughter. John just isn’t sure why that meant he couldn’t come around. 

But John knows he’s always pushing the limits with Chas, and the lump in his throat when Chas said he needed time with Geraldine meant listening. Because the consequences of not could be to lose Chas forever. 

The six months were really more than six months for John, because the Waverider means he’s lived longer than that in the time stream. He thought maybe that would fix things too, if he had the distance to appreciate what Chas has always given him.

“Time travel has always been possible with magic,” John says, even though most of his experiments with it have ended poorly. “My friends have a timeship,” he says.

Chas looks more tired than John has seen him in a long time. It’s a look John got used to, the one Chas always seems to get when John is being particularly reckless. But this time it’s wearier, like time travel is too far to believe, even though Chas has souls bound to his own and they’ve seen angels, and John has literally been possessed by a demon.

He supposes everyone’s mind has a point of collapse, when it comes to things that are hard to believe. John’s aren’t focused around magic, or easily accessible time travel. His are about acceptance, and love.

John has loved Chas for so long that to do otherwise is foreign. Even stuck in the 1550s and trying to survive, John finds himself hoping that the timeline ripples don’t affect Chas. That he’s still safe in 2018 with his multiple souls, and John selfish enough to want to live through them all.

There are ethics to time travel, something Sara is surprisingly firm on, but John still turns it over in his mind. He could try to undo Newcastle and free Astra. But he could get stuck, or end up in a paradox.

He should want to preserve time for its own sake, because it’s a delicate thing, essentially alive, but that isn’t why he fights time demons.

John has always been selfish when it comes to Chas.

His dedication to the timeline is just another manifestation of protecting Chas from anything that could harm him.

“What if something goes wrong?” Chas asks. “What if you end up executed for witchcraft or you piss off some future robot?” Chas takes a sip of his beer, avoiding John’s eyes, and the situation isn’t humorous.

“Did get left in 1969 in an asylum for a bit, but you know me, those places always feel like home.”

John leans forward across his stool--doesn’t know why Chas said they had to meet in a bar anyway--and tries to catch his eye. “Met someone from another earth even, very cute, but he had to go back to his own earth.”

“How long has it been?” Chas says, like he’s figured out the answer to the question he won’t come out and ask.

John fiddles with his lighter; Chas’ ability to hone in on him has always been one of his most attractive qualities. “You know I’m no monk; I think Anne Marie would kill me if I went anywhere near Catholicism.”

Chas plucks the lighter from his hand, setting it aside, and covers John’s hand with his own.

“Don’t say six months.” Chas is finally looking at him and now John wants to shrink away. Should’ve stayed on the ship, played video games with Zari, not partaken in the present day reprieve of a team vacation. He could’ve gone to see Zed, even, check in on her visions.

“Two years, give or take,” John says. “Hard to keep track when we’re in the timestream.” He coughs, clears his throat. “It uh. Feels longer than that, sometimes.”

The beat that passes feels long enough that he wonders if time has paused around them, but the television chatter says otherwise.

“I expected you to show up two months in,” Chas says, and all John can think about is what if he had.

John shifts on the stool. “You said six months. I know how important Geraldine is.” He’s trying to be better to Chas. To respect him more, to not drain him of everything and never give a damn thing back.

“Two years, John. You let us be apart for that long.” 

Never mind the fact that it wasn’t that long for Chas, John starts to say, but it’s a point he doesn’t want to beleaguer.

It’s a ridiculous dance between the two of them. John would die for Chas a hundred times over, thinks about him with every timeline fuckup, but they won’t discuss it.

John won’t say it, because maybe Chas doesn’t feel it, and he’d rather live in unfulfilled hope than find out he’s been holding on to nothing at all.

“I came back,” he says, but it’s less defensive than he intends it to be. Shouldn’t Chas know by now that as long as he’ll let John stay, he’ll show up?

Chas stands, and for a moment John thinks this is it: the smallest thing that makes Chas finally crack and write him off permanently. He’ll throw down some money for a tip, then climb into his taxi, and never accept his fare again.

The kiss that he gets, instead, is small and soft and quiet, such an antithesis to their relationship. It isn’t the first time they’ve kissed but it may be the first time it’s done with such deliberateness. Chas’ beard scrapes his skin when Chas pulls away and John doesn’t know the last time he’s been touched with such intimacy.

“You shouldn’t have left me for so long,” Chas says. John doesn’t know if he means the six months, the two years, or every single time John has disappeared because things got too painfully real. “I’ve always been waiting for you to stay.”

To settle, to calm, to choose. Even his wildest choices bring him back here, to a shitty pub and terrible beer, with Chas by his side.

That could be time wanting to happen; time telling him he should be here. That’s what John wants to hear.

“If you think you can handle me,” John says. “Then I suppose I could.”

Maybe it doesn’t matter if it’s a push of the universe or the breath of time in his ear, when Chas is asking him to stay. Chas is giving him a chance to exhale. That’s really all he’s ever needed.

**Author's Note:**

> i know i showed up to this fandom literally 3 years late, but hey. 
> 
> legends writers show me chas and zed in s4 challenge!
> 
> you can find me on tumblr if you want under the same username


End file.
